Third Hand – The Fallen

Have you ever seen old celluloid film catch fire and burn itself up while projected on the big screen? What would music sound like melting in such a way? Listening to jazz violinist Matt Maneri’s lastest release in his Blue Series, I can’t help but conjure the image as the recorded line moves in and out of warped focus. The somber melody stoically stumbles forward seemingly unaware of its rapid deterioration, while overlaid are the frantic beats of T.K. Ramakrishnan’s unsinged tabla playing. Appropriately, perhaps, the piece comes to no audible resolution, as if the tape simply burned away entirely and left no trace of what once was there.

—MS